Valve buffing and polishing machine



Jan. 13, 1942. D. GEORGE ET AL 2,269,658

VALVE BUFFING AND POLISHING MACHINE Filed March 4,1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 3O O /45 M17 Jan. 13, 1942. GEQRGE ETAL 2,269,658

VALVE BUFFING- AND POLISHING MACHINE 4 Lil'- V //aro/o /Z 15/0 M2.

like.

sion of the valve to the inner tube.

Patented-Jan. 13, 1942 VALVE BUFFING AND POLISHING MACHINE Everett D.George and Harold M. Brown, Guyahoga Falls, Ohio, assignors to WingfootCorporation, Wilmington, Del., a corporation of'Dela-' Ware ApplicationMarch 4, 1938, Serial No. 193,938

21 Claims.

The present invention relates to a machine for cleaning and bufilng tirevalves and the like prepa'ratory to applying same to inner tubes and theUsually after the valves have been formed the bases thereof have aglazed surface which is not suitable for proper adhesion of the valve toan inner tube and it is customary to buff these bases in order to createa surface which will be of the character such as to provided proper.adhe- Also the valves after they have been molded may contain andusually to contain some rubber in the hollow metal stem thereof, due tothe flow of rubber during the curing process. ,Also some of the rubberpenetrates in and around the threads of the .valve and this rubber,together with the rubber within the metal portion, must be removed. Ithas been generally customary to do this by manual labor and thepresent-invention has for its object the provision of an improved methodand means for preparing the valve for application to a tube.

An important object of this invention is to provide means whereby thevalves can be quickly placed in position for buffing, cleaning anddrilling without danger to the operator.

Another object of this invention is to provide means whereby valves arefed to the machine by a feeding disc or the like and removed from saidconveyor device onto a carrier which conveys the valves. to and pastdesignated buffing, cleaning and drilling stations; as will be morefully described hereinafter.

Another object of this invention is to provide 7 for suitable buflingand cleaning elements for the valves as they are-moved along apredetermined path by the carrier, it being found preferable to mountthe valves on the carrier in groups of two or more, which groups aresimultaneously acted upon by the same type of element at the variousstations, whereby to increase the output of the machine.

Another object of this invention is to provide means for removing thevalves from the carrier after they have been buffed and cleaned.

A still further object of this invention is to provide means whereby thevalves are automatically removed from the carrier after they have beenmoved along a given path by the carrier to a designated point.

' Other objects of this invention are to provide suitable automaticdevices for bufiing and cleaning. the valves as they move successivelypast designated stations, all of which will be more clearly set forth inthe detailed description of the device.

Still other objects of this invention will appear hereinafter as thedescription thereof proceeds, the novel features, arrangements andcombinations being clearly set forth in the specification and the claimsthereunto appended.

In the drawings:

' Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a machine embodying the invention;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation partly in sect-ion of a portion of themachine looking from the left in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation showing a portion of the drivingmechanism which is arranged at the left of the machine as viewed in Fig.2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the machine illustratc-d in Figs. 1 and 2with parts removed for the sake of clearness;

- Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view illustrating some of thesteps in the process of buffing and cleaning the valve;

Fig. 6' is a detailed vertical section through the device for ejectingthe valves from the feeding disc into the carrier;

Fig. 7 is a'vertical cross-section through one of the valve holders onthe carrier and the means for driving same;

Fig. 8 is a plan view of the valve holder illustrated in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9 is a vertical cross-section through the air-blast cleaningdevice;

In the present instance this indexing is accomplished by the means of aGeneva wheel l3 fixed to the shaft l l and an actuating pin l4 (seeFigs. 2 and 4, particularly) mounted on the end of an armi'l5 carried bya rotating shaft l6 which is driven at a uniform speed in the mannerhereinafter set forth. The Geneva movement indexes the carrier to sixdifferent positions, whereby to bring the valves to six differentoperating stations spaced equally about the axis of the shaft l l and ateach of the stations a'given operation is performed on the valves, andthe valves then moved to the next station.

These stations which are more clearly illustrated in Fig. 5 and theoperations occurring at those stations are as follows:

Station AInsertion of the valves into the carrier from the feeding disc.

BDrilling out the interior of the metal valves to remove the rubbertherefrom.

C--Blowing foreign matter from the in terior of the valves after thesame have been drilled, and buifing the external threads on the valvesto remove any rubber therefrom.

DBufiing the bases of the valves.

ECamming device moves valves vertically and ejector removes valves frommachine.

Mounted on the front side of the machine is a bracket 20 having abearing 2| supporting the rotating shaft 22, the upper side of which, as

illustrated in Fig. 4, carried a feeding disc 23 having a series ofvalve-supporting seats 24 on which the valves are placed with theirstems extending downwardly through openings 25. The openings 25 whichare surrounded by the seats 24 are made sufiici'ently large so that thevalve stem fits freely therein with only the very outer edges of thevalve supported by the valve seats 24. This makes it easy to push thevalves through the openings 25 when it is desired to eject the valvesinto the carrier, since the valves are constructed with thin peripheraledges which yield inwardly when pressure is applied at the centers ofthe valves to force them through the openings 25.

The carrier is provided with rotating valve supports 26 best illustratedin Fig. '7. It is constructed with an upper plate 21 and a lower plate28, both of which are rigidly connected together at their peripheries inspaced relation to each other. The bearings 29 and 29', of which thereare twelve each, are seated in the lower plate 28 and upper plate 21,respectively, and each of these carries a rotating member 30 which isformed with gear teeth 3| on its peripheries. The valve stem is seatedwithin a bushing 32 having an interior tapered opening of substantiallythe same taper as the valve stem, and the base of the valve extends overand rests on a seat in the disc 33 secured by screws 34 to the member30. By changing the size and shape of the seats in the bushing 32 and/orannular member 33, valves of different sizes and shapes can beaccommodated in the valve supports and can be buffed and cleaned whileseated therein without change of any more of the aforesaid parts, andperhaps an adjustment of the amount of travel of the bufilng devices ortheir position with respect to the valve during its movement by thecarrier.

Notches 55 formed in the stem-receiving portion of the bushing 32 toavoid any air pressure building up around the stem sufiicient to preventthe valve from being properly seated. These notches also form grippingedges to prevent the valve from turning when the valve is forced intothe holder. A pin 55' operating in a bayonet slot 55 holds the sleeve 32in fixed position with respect to sleeve 36, but permits readyseparation therefrom.

The sleeves 3e are driven by means of a gear 35 which is mounted rigidlyon a shaft 35 which extends through the hollow shaft II which car riesthe Geneva gear I3.

The constant speed of shaft 36 is derived from the main power drive (seeFig. 4), which is the motor 31, through the intermediary of the belt 38,pulley 39, spur gears 40, and 4|, shaft 42 bevel gears 43 and 44, shaft45, sprocket 46, chain 41, sprocket 48, shaft [6 and gears l1 and I8(see Fig. 2).

As the carrier [2 is indexed from station to station, the variousaforesaid operations are performed on the valve to clean up the valveand place it in condition for application to a tube. A typical valve isshown in Fig. '7 and comprises a flanged rubber base portion 49 with acontiguous rubber stem portion 50 embracing the metal stem 5!. A cap isplaced on the threaded end of this stem in a well-known manner and,since in the molding operation some rubber is apt to flow into thethreads, such rubber must be re moved therefrom in order that the capmay be threaded onto the stem. Also, some rubber gets into the bore 52of the stem and this must be drilled out and, after the drilling, airunder pressure is forced through the stem to clean out the rubberparticles therein. The flat surface 53 on the base which is to beapplied to the inner tube is somewhat glazed when it comes from the moldand it is necessary to condition this surfac in order that the valve maybe properly applied to the tube. In order to prepare this surface, it isbullied by a suitable wire brush or the like.

The first operation takes place at station A where the valves areremoved from the feeding disc 23 into the carrier I 2. This operation isbest illustrated in Figs. 1, 2 and 6. As a pair of valves are broughtinto alined position over a pair of the valve supports 26 they areforced out of the openings in the feeding disc 23 into the valvesupports 26 by a pair of plungers indicated generally at 54. The generalpurpose of these plungers is to engage the bases of the valve and pushthe valves through the restricted openings 25 of the feeding disc 23 andto press the valves firmly into their seat in the carrier l2 so thatthey occupy positions such as shown in Fig. 7. Since each valve restsloosely within its openings in the disc 23, it is necessary that theplunger be so constructed as to move the valve without permitting thesame to tilt, as, otherwise, the stem may not enter the opening at thecenter of the support 26. For this purpose the plunger is designed asillustrated most clearly in Fig. 6. The head is carried by areciprocable shaft 56 into which is screw-threaded a hollow sleeve 51.Within this head is a pin 58 having an enlarged head 59 which holds thecup-shaped sleeve 60 over the lower end of the sleeve 51 and retains theanti-friction bearing 6| in position between the sleeves 51 and 6D. Athird sleeve 62 embraces the sleeves 60 and a spring 63 normally holdsthe sleeve 62 projected downwardly as illustrated in Fig. 6, but permitsthe same to be moved upwardly when pressure is exerted on the lower endthereof. Stops 64 on the sleeve 62 prevent separation of the sleeves anand 62. The pin 58 has a reduced extension 65 projecting from the lowerend thereof and as the plunger descends the conical end on the extension65 enters the hole at the center of the stem and the sleeve 62 engagesthe base to prevent the tipping of the valve. Further downward movementof the shaft 56 causes the spring 63 to be compressed and the pin 65 toenter the stem opening to a greater extent. This holds the valve againstlateral shifting. The result is that as the valve is forced from thefeeding disc 23 into the opening in the valve support 26, the valve isfirmly held against tipping movement and is properly received in thevalve support; by the plunger. The yieldingly mounted sleeve 62 alsoassists in firmly pressing the valve into the operative position shownin Fig. 7 so that all of the parts of the valve are in proper positionto be operated upon.

In order to secure the aforesaid movement of the plungers 54, the shafts56 which carry the plungers are slidably mounted forvertical movement inthe bracket 66 and are spring-pressed in a downward direction by meansof springs 61 abutting against the bracket 68 which embraces and issecured to both of the shafts 56, as is most clearly illustrated inFigs. 1 and 2. To this bracket 68 is pivoted a link 69 which, in turn,is pivotally connected to the arm 10- pivoted at H to the bracket 12secured rigidly to the crossmember 13 of the frame I or made integraltherewith. This bracket also forms an upper bearing for the rotatingshaft 36.

A cam 14 has an inner cam track 15 and any outer cam track I6. This camis keyed as at 11 to the continuously rotating shaft 36 and partakes ofthe movement thereof. A roller 18 mounted on the under side of the armI0 engages the cam track 15 and is raised and lowered once each time thecam makes a complete revolution. The cam rotates on complete revolutionfor each complete indexing movement so that each time the feeding discand carrier are indexed the shafts 56 are moved downwardly to move thevalves from the feeding disc into valve holders on the carrier, and thenupwardly to return the plungers 54 to their inoperative positions shownin Fig. 2.

The feeding disc 23 is indexed at the same time that the carrier isindexed by means of a chain 19 or its equivalent trained over sprocketWon the upper end of the hollow sleeve I, which is indexed by means ofthe Geneva movement l4l3 and the sprocket 8| secured rigidly to theshaft 22 on which the carrier 23 i rigidly secured. This insuressimultaneous indexing of the feeding disc 23 and the carrier I2.

At the next station, station B, (see Figs. 1,

and 11) the valves are drilled, that is any rubber within the bores ofthe stems is drilled out of the same by means of the bits 63 mounted inchucks 64 secured to the ends of the spindles 85, which are mounted forrotation. There are two similar spindles as indicated in Figs. 1 and 5and each is similarly mounted in parallel sleeves 86 for verticalreciprocating movement.

Splined to the top of each spindle 85 is a gear 81 and these gears meshwith a driving gear 88 which has a projecting flange 89 to prevent thegears 81 from being raised vertically, the downward movement of thegears 81 being prevented by the bosses 90 on the bracket which supportsthe spindles. The gears, as has heretofore been stated, are splined tothe spindles 85 so that the spindles may move vertically in the gearswhile the driving relation between the gears and the spindle ismaintained.

The driving gear 88 is secured to a shaft 9| which also has a pulley 92secured thereto and which is driven by means of a belt 93 running overidle pulleys 93 and trained over a pulley 94 on the shaft 05, whichshaft in turn is driven from a motor 96 by means of a belt 91 trainedover the pulleys 98 and 99 on the motor 96 and iii) shaft 42respectively. Thus, it will be seen that the drills 83 are driven at acontinuous rate by means of the motor 96 and are capable of verti calreciprocating motion.

The vertical reciprocating motion of the drills is accomplished throughthe following mechanism. A bracket I00 secured to the non-rotatable butvertically reciprocable sleeves 86, which embrace the rotating spindles86, is adapted to reciprocate with the spindles and this bracket ispivotally connected, as by alink IN, to the end of an arm I02, which inturn'is pivoted to the frame of the machine at I04 (see Fig. 11) and isreciprocated by means of a roller I03 on the arm I 02 which rides on theouter cam track .16. Springs 82 normally urge the spindles downwardlyand hold the roller I03 on the cam track 16. As the cam 14 rotates, thespindles are given' a vertical reciprocating motion of such a nature asto bring the drills 83 downwardly into the stems of the valves afterthey arrive in position beneath the drills and to thereafter withdrawthe drills into position shown in Fig. 1. Since the drills arerelatively small in cross-section, a bracket I05 secured to the frame isprovided with openings I 06 to strip the valves from the drills if theyshould be retracted therewith after being drilled, and also sweep anyvalves off the carrier which may happen to lie on the surface thereof.These drills remove the rubber from the metal valve stems.

Any particles of rubber remaining in the stems must be cleaned out andfor this purpose the valves are indexed into the next position at Cwhere an air blast is employed to clean out the valve stems, at whichstation the outer cap-receiving threaded end of the stem is bufied-toremove any rubber which may have flowed over the threads during themolding operation.

As is seen most clearly in Figs. 1 and 2, 9-and 10, there is provided apair of devices I01 used for blowing air through the valve stem to cleanthe foreign matter therefrom after the stems have been drilled. One ofthese devices is best illustrated in Fig. 9 and a description of the onewill sufiice for both. The devices I01 are connected to a common supplypipe I08 (see Fig. '10) and these devices comprise pipes I09, which, attheir lower ends, have sleeve l I 0 threaded therein, the sleeves beingreduced at their lower ends and having an inner tapered seat I II,against which a similarly tapered seat I I2 on a valve I I3 is adaptedto seat when in its lower or dotted-line position shown in Fig.9. Thevalve H3 is normally held upwardly against the end of the pipe I09 by aspring H4 and when air is introduced into the pipe I09 the valve isforced downwardly and the lower, outer end I I5 thereof seats againstthe rubber at the base of the valve stem, as is clearly illustrated inFig. '7. In this position the seats H2 and H0 are in engagement witheach other and preventthe escape of air around the Valve, the airpassing through the narrow passage H6 in the valve stem at a highvelocity to blow the air out of the valve stem. On release of the airpressure, the valve again assumes the position shown by full lines inFig. 9. Due to the engagement of the lower end H5 with the valve beingtreated, the valve is kept from jumping oiT its seat.

In order to introduce ai'rinto the pipes I09, there is a valve H! (seeFig. 1) which is used to control the flow of fluid through the conduitI08. In Fig. 1 the air is supplied from'any suitable source throu h aconduit I I 8 leading into the conduit I08 and there are fingers IIS onthe bracket I which are adapted to engage the lower end of the slidingsleeve'I20 forming a part of the valve II'I. A spring I2I normally holdsthe sleeve I20 in its lowermost position but when the bracket I00 ismoved upwardly the spring is compressed and the sleeve I20 is moved tothe position in which it cuts oif the supply of air to the conduit I08.When the bracket I00 descends with the spindles 84, the sleeve I20 isforced downwardly by the spring I2I and air flows through the conduitI08 to the pipes I09. Any appropriate kind of valve can be used for thatillustrated at II'I, whereby the flow of fluid is controlled through theconduit I08.

While the air is being blown through the valve stem, the valve stem isalso being buffed at its lower, externally threaded end by means of abuffer, such as a wire brush I22, which rotates with its peripheryagainst the threads on the stem to clean any rubber or foreign materialtherefrom. These brushes most clearly illustrated in Fig. 2 are carriedon spindles I23, to the lower ends of which are attached the pulleys I24actuated in the following manner. A rotatable shaft I25 arrangedparallel to the driving shaft 9I is c0nnect ed thereto by a belt I26trained over the pulleys I21 and I28 on the shafts 9I and I25respectively. Belts I29 and I30 are trained over the pulleys I3! and I32on the shafts I25 and SI respectively are trained over the pulleys I24to actuate the spindles I23 and, consequently, the wire brushes I22.These wire brushes may be mounted for sliding movement, as by means ofslides I33 and I34 provided for each of the two brushes. This isnecessary for the purpose of compensating for wear. Normally thesebrushes are arranged with their outer peripheries substantiallytangential to the outer portions of the valves to be buffed, as is moreclearly illustrated in Fig. 4, whereby as th valves rotate into theposition C the same are brought into engagement with the brushes and arebuffed thereby. The slides can be adjusted from the front of the machineby turning the handwheels I34 (see Fig. 1) on the rods I33.

The valves are next advanced to the position D where the bases of thevalves are bufied to clean the same and remove the glazed surfacetherefrom. This is accomplished by the use of wire brushes, such as I35,mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis and these are driven by beltsI36 from the pulleys I31 on the shaft 95, the belts being trained overthe idle pulleys I38 and I40. The idle pulley I40 is mounted on an armI4I pivoted on the shaft 95 and urged toward the belt by a spring I42 tomaintain the belt under sufficient tension to drive the wire brush. Thebrushes are mounted on the ends of arms I43 which are rockable on shaftsI44. which shafts in turn are mounted on sliding brackets I45, wherebythe brushes I35 may be rocked about the shafts I44 as pivots and alsomoved to the right and left (as viewed in Fig. 2) so as to move over thebase of the valve to buff the entire surface thereof.

The motion of the brush in going over the surface of the valve is quiteimportant and it has been found that the best results are obtained byfirst bringing the brushes down into engagement with the valvesubstantially at the center of the base thereof; then moving the brushesoutwardly toward the periphery of the base or to the left as viewed inFig. 2; then upwardly out of contact with the valves and then inwardlyor to the right in Fig. 2 to bring the brushes into position above thecenters of the next valves "to be buffed, the brushes then being loweredinto engagement with the brushes and the cycle repeated.

The motions of the brushes are produced by cams and eccentrics in thefollowing manner. In order to give a reciprocating motion to the slidingbrackets I45 (from right to left and left to right in Fig. 2) there isconnected to the rear end of each of the carriages a link I46 (see Fig.3) which is pivoted at one end thereto, and has the other end thereofmounted on an eccentric pin I4'I carried by the rotating disc I43mounted on the shaft I49, which also 'has a sprocket I50 (see Figs. 2and 4) over which is trained a chain I5I driven from a similar sprocketI52 on the shaft 42 and is driven thereby. Thus, it will be seen that,due to the eccentricity of the pin I41, the carriage will be given areciprocating motion.

The brushes are rocked about their pivots I44 to impart verticalmovement thereto by means of a cam I54 operating against a roller I55 onan arm I56 pivoted at I51 to the frame I0 and this arm in turn isconnected to a link I58 by the pivot I59 and the link in turn is pivotedat I60 to an arm IGI rigid with the arm I43. This cam, when operatingagainst the roller I55, causes a vertical reciprocation of the link 58and a similar but opposite reciprocation to the brush I35. The buffingwheels or brushes are normally urged in a downward direction by springsI62 and the downward movement is limited by means of a rigid arm I63rigidly connected to the arms I43 and ISI. This stop is adapted toengage the end of a rod I84 threaded at I55 into the upper end of thebracket I45. By adjusting the position of the rod by rotating the handwheel I68 at the end thereof, the amount of contact which the brusheshave with the work may be readily adjusted and while the machine is inmotion. The hand wheels I56 are arranged close to' the operatorsposition at the front of the machine so that if the bases are not beingproperly buffed the brushes may be adjusted to bring them into propercontact with the bases for securing the proper action thereon. Thevalves which are now completely buffed and cleaned are ready to beremoved from the machine and this is done at the station F.

At the station E no action takes place as far as the valves areconcerned, but as the valves advance from the station E to the station Ftheir stems engage an inclined guide Ifil located be neath the carrierI2 (see Figs. 1 and 5) and this causes the valve bases to be raisedabove the upper surface of the carrier i2 so that suitable devices maybe inserted beneath the bases to lift them completely out of the valveholders.

The means provided for this purpose comprise a pair of arms I88 havingthe upper surfaces offset at I69 and forked to provide the valve-stemreceiving openings I'I0. The arms I53 are pivoted at III (see Fig. 1) tothe upper end of a generally vertically extending arm I72, which in turnis pivoted at I53 to a bracket I74 on the base. This arm has anextension I75 at the lower end thereof connected by a link ii to an armI'sI pivoted at I78 to a shaft H and this arm (see particularly Fig. 1)has a roller I20 thereon engaging a cam I8I on shaft I5 which is alsoshown in Fig. 2. This causes a rocking movement of the arm I72 to andfrom the edge of the carrier I2. A spring I89 connected to the frame I90and to the arm I IT at IQI holds the roller I against the cam I8l. Thearms I68 have pins I82 extending laterally therefrom and connected tosprings I83 fastened to brackets I84 on the base of the machine.Assuming that the parts are in the positions illustrated in Fig. 1, thearm "2 has notcompleted its full movement to the right and as thatmovement continues the arms I68, which are in engagement with the rubberabutments I85 mounted on the bracket I86, are caused to rotate in acounter-clockwise direction about the pivot Ill and this continues untilthe springs pass the center of the pivot I'Il, whereupon the springscause a snap action of the arms in a counterclockwise direction to bringthe offset portions thereof into a substantially horizontal position sothat as the arm I12 moves to the left or counter-clockwise the ends ofthe offset portions become arranged beneath the bases of the valve asillustrated in Figs. 4 and 5. As the arm I12 continues its movement tothe left, or counter-clockwise, as viewed in Fig. 5, the arms I68 engagethe edge of the carrier I 2 and the springs are then moved to the otherside of the pivot III, which causes a snap action of the arms to theright or clockwise, with a consequent lifting of the valves from theirsupports and the throwing of these valves into any suitable receptaclearranged by the machine. In the present instance a funnel-shapedreceptacle was arranged in the path of movement of the valves to receivethe same and direct them into a suitable receptacle. Instead of havingthe arms engage the edge of the carrier, a pair of stops similar to I85may be arranged adjacent the edge of the table for stopping the movementof the arms I68 to the left to cause the aforesaid snap action in aclockwise direction.

Any suitable means may be employed for controlling the action of thevarious parts and there is indicated suitable control buttons, such asI81 and I88, for starting and stopping the machine. These start themotors which are used in this embodiment to drive the machine.

From the description, it will be seen that the valves are inserted byhand in a feeding disc 23 and are then removed therefrom and inserted inthe valve supports 26 by means of the plungers 54. The carrier is thenindexed to bring these valves successively into the following positions;the position B where the valves are drilled by the drills 83; theposition where the air is blown through the valve stems and the outerthreaded portions of the valves are buffed by the brushes I22; theposition D where the bases of the valves are bufied by the brushes I35and, finally, to the position F where the valves are removed from thevalve holders 26 and thrown into a suitable receptacle.

It will be understood that various means may be used for accomplishingthe results herein described and the drawings merely illustrate oneembodiment of our invention. Obviously, the various arrangements andcombinations can be varied by those skilled in the art to which theinvention pertains and therefore I do not wish to be limited in myinvention except as may hereinafter be set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device for treating valves having metal stems with rubber baseportions, the combination with a valve carrier, of rotatable valvesupports thereon, means for rotating said valve supports and means forbuffing the bases of the valves while mounted on said supports.

2. In a device for treating valves having metal stems with rubber baseportions, the combination with a valve carrier of rotatable valvesupports thereon, means for rotatingsaid valve supports, and means fordrilling out the stems of the valves during the rotative movement.

3. In a device for treating valves having metal stems with rubber baseportions, the combination with a valve carrier of rotatable valvesupports thereon, means for rotating said valve supports and means forbuffing the threaded metal portions of the valves as the valves rotate.

4. In a device for treating valves having metal stems with rubber baseportions, the combination with a valve carrier of a rotatable valvesupport thereon, means for rotating said valve supports and means fordrilling and butfing said valves as they are rotated.

5. In a machine for treating rubber base valves, the combination with arotatable support for; the valve base adapted to support a valve firmlywith the portion thereof adapted to be attached to a tube in a positionto be buffed, of a buffing tool mounted in a position to buff theexposed base of said valve, and means for controlling the movement ofsaid buffing tool whereby during the bufiing of said base said buffingtool moves from the center portion of said base outwardly toward theedge thereof.

6. In a device for treating valve stems and the like the combinationwith means for moving a valve along a given path of means arranged alongsaid path to drill the valves, means for blowing drilled particles fromsaid valves at a subsequent position thereof, said last-mentioned meansincluding an air valve actuated by said drilling mechanism forcontrolling the flow of air, whereby air is discharged only atpredetermined desired intervals. 7

7. In a device of the class described, the combination with a carriermovable along a given path, means for supporting a valve on saidcarrier, a drill arranged along the path of travel of said carrier fordrilling a valve on said support when the valve reaches the drill, anair conduit arranged at a subsequent position of said valve, means forcontrolling the flow of air through said conduit, and means cooperatingwith said drill for controlling the actuation of said lastmentionedvalve whereby air is blown through said conduit substantially only atthe time the conduit is in alignment with the drilled opening in saidvalve.

8. In a valve-bufiing machine the combination with a rotatable carrierhaving valve supports thereon of means for moving said carrier along apredetermined path, means for rotating said valves as they move alongsaid path, and bufiing devices mounted for rotation about substantiallyfixed axes adapted to engage and buff the stems of said valves as thevalves move along their path into engagement therewith.

9. Means for cleaning out the bores of valve stems and the like,comprising an air conduit, means for presenting a valve in spacedrelation to said conduit, said conduit having a movable section at theend thereof adjacent the valve position, means for normally retractingsaid section to a position away from the valve position, a

control valve in said conduit for controlling the flow of airtherethrough, means for actuating said valve to cause air to flowtherethrough, and means on said movable section actuated by the air inpassing through said conduit for moving said section to a position inclose proximity to and in communication with the bore of the stem beingcleaned. I H l 10. Means for drilling and cleaning the bores of valvestems comprising a valve carrier adapted to move valves successively todrilling and cleaning stations, drilling means at said drilling stationfor drilling the stem of a valve presented at that station, and meansfor cleaning the bores of the drilled valve stems at the cleaningstation, comprising an air socket having a movable section at the endthereof normally retracted to a position away from a valve located atsaid position, a control valve in said conduit for controlling the flowof air therethrough, means for normally holding said valve in closedposition, means actuated by said drilling means for opening said valveduring the drilling operation, and means on said movable section formoving said movable section into close proximity to and in communicationwith the bore of the stem being cleaned.

11. Means for cleaning out the bores of valve stems and the like,comprising an air conduit, means for presenting a valve in spacedrelation to said conduit, said conduit having a movable section at theend thereof adjacent the valve position, means for normally retractingsaid section to a position away from the valve position, a control valvein said conduit for controlling the flow of air therethrough, means foractuating said valve to cause air to flow therethrough, and means onsaid movable section actuated by the air in passing through said conduitfor moving said section into engagement with a valve at said positionwith the bore of said movable section communicating with the bore of thevalve stem.

12. In a machine of the class described, the combination with arotatable valve carrier peripherally arranged, rotatable valve supportson said carrier, means for continuously rotating said supports, andmeans for indexing said carrier to bring said supports into differentpositions, at which successive operations are performed by suitabletools. I I

13. In a device for treating valves having metal stems threaded at theirupper ends to receive a valve cap and having rubber base portions,comprising a carrier having a plurality of similar supports for thevalves to be treated, means for moving said carrier to advance saidsupports along a fixed path, a plurality of stations spaced along saidpath at which the valve is treated,

drilling means at one of said stations for drilling said stem, buffingmeans at another station for bufiing the base portions thereof,bufling'means at another of said stations for buffing said threads toclean same, means for inserting said valves in said carrier at one endof its path of movement and ejecting means for removing said valves fromsaid carrier after they are treated, said carrier being indexedtoperiodically bring the valves successively to said stations with thevarious operations performed substantially simultaneously on the valvesat said stations.

14. In a device for treating valves having metal stems threaded at theirupper ends to receive a valve cap and having rubber base portions,comprising a carrier having a plurality of similar supports for thevalves to be treated, means for rotating said supports about theirrespective axes during the successive operations thereon, means formoving said carrier to advance said supports along a fixed path, aplurality of stations spaced along said path at which the valve istreated, drilling means at one of said stations for drilling said stem,bufiing means at another station for formed substantially simultaneouslybufimg the base portions thereof, bufiing means at another of saidstations for buffing said threads to clean same, means for insertingsaid valves in said carrier at one end of its path of movement andejecting means for removing said valves from said carrier after they aretreated,

said carrier being indexed to periodically. bring,

the valves successively to said stations with the various operationsperformed substantially simultaneously on the valves at said stations.

15. In a device for treating valves having metal stems threaded at theirupper ends to receive a valve cap and having rubber base portions,comprising a carrier having a plurality of similar supports for thevalves to be treated, means for moving said carrier to advance saidsupports along a fixed path, a plurality of stations spaced along saidpath at which the valve is treated, drilling means at one of saidstations for drilling said stem, means for blowing air through thedrilled stem after the drilling operation, bufiing means at anotherstation for bufiing the base portions thereof, buffing means at anotherof said stations for bufiing said threads to clean same, means forinserting said valves in said carrier at one end of its path of movementand ejecting means for removing said valves from said carrier after theyare treated, said carrier being indexed to periodically bring the valvessuccessively to said stations with the various operations peron thevalves at said stations.

16. In a device for treating valves having rubber base portions, thecombination of a valve ;carrier, valve holding means rotatably mountedon the carrier, means for bufiing the bases of the valves while mountedin the valve holding means, and means for rotating the valve holdingmeans during the buffing operation.

1'7. In a machine for treating rubber base valves, the combination witha rotatable holder for each valve and adapted to hold the valve firmlywith theportion thereof adapted to be attached to an inner tube in aposition to be bufied, of a bufiing tool mounted in a position to buffthe exposed base of the valve, means for moving the buiiing tool to andfrom a position in engagement with the base of the valve, and means forrotating the valve holder during the buifing operation.

18. In a valve-bufhngmachine the. combination with a rotatable carrierhaving valve supports thereon of means for moving said carrier along apredetermined path, means for rotating said valves, and bufiing devicesmounted for rotation about substantially fixed axes adaptedto engage andbuff portions of the valves when the valves move into position adjacentthe buffing devices.

19. In a device for treating valves having rubber covered metal stemsand rubber base portions, the combination of a periodically advancedvalve carrier, valve supports thereon, means for drilling out the stemof a valve during a dwell in the advancing movement of the carrier, and

means through which the drilling means extend and adapted to hold downthe valve adjacent its support when the drill is withdrawn from thevalve.

20. In a device for treating valve stems and the like, the combinationwith. means for moving a valve along a given path of means arrangedalong said path to drill the valves, means for blowing drilled particlesfrom said valves, said last mentioned means including an air valveactuated subsequently to said drilling mechanism for controlling theflow of air, whereby air is discharged only at predetermined desiredintervals.

21. A device for treating valves having rubber base portions, comprisingin combination a periodically advanced valve carrier, rotatable valveholders thereon, means for rotating the valve holders, and means forperforming a finishing operation on each valve as it is rotated andduring a dwell in the periodic advancement of the valve carrier.

EVERETT D. GEORGE. HAROLD M. BROWN.

